Welcome to Hagen!
Hagen is a city in the green, 42 percent of its area is covered by woods and forests, and four rivers meet on the city grounds, the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe. It is one of 23 towns in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and is situated between the industrialized Ruhr area in the north and the rangy Sauerland in the south.
Hagen was of little significance until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, when the trip hammers provided the growing industry with products and led to modest prosperity of the area. In the 19th century, Hagen became an important railway junction, and a traffic junction in the 20th century, with an urban population of 230,000 inhabitants at its peak in 1975. Since then, Hagen has been hit by the steel and coal crisis of the late 20th century, and its peripheral position at the edge of the Ruhr area has led to a 20 percent reduction in population.
Hagen is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (met by the river Ennepe) meet the river, Ruhr. As of 31 December 2010, the population was 188,529.
The city is home to the FernUniversität Hagen, which is the only state-funded distance education university in Germany. Counting more than 67,000 students (March 2010), it is the largest university in Germany.